


Project Fitz-Simmons

by Springmagpies



Series: Promptober 2019 [9]
Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: F/M, FitzSimmons - Freeform, Fluff, Halloween parties, Humor, Promptober 2019, Romantic Fluff, earth vs space, team earth
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-10
Updated: 2019-10-10
Packaged: 2020-11-28 19:40:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,615
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20971970
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Springmagpies/pseuds/Springmagpies
Summary: After weeks of being pestered about Project Fitz-Simmons, Fitz is becoming more and more nervous about it. However, Daisy takes it into her own hands to set the plan into motion and the annual Halloween party seems the perfect place to do it.





	Project Fitz-Simmons

**Author's Note:**

> Here it is! Day 9 of Promptober! It's part of my "A Distraction from Math" verse but you don't really need to have read those to get this one. This fic is longer than my other Promptober submissions but it sort of got away from me. Oops. Anyway, hope you enjoy!
> 
> UPDATE: The AMAZING series banners are all made by the INCREDIBLE Zuza! (@2minutes2midnight on Tumblr!) Zuza you are the best and I love ya bucket loads!!!

Three weeks. It was three weeks of Daisy impishly pestering him about The Project. She even had a notebook dedicated to it. Well, the back half of a yellow three-subject notebook, but that was still a good amount of pages that were devoted to it. Any lull in the conversation, she brought up The Project; free time in class, The Project; sitting in her room spinning in her desk chair as Fitz read his book; The Project. It was driving him batty.

It wasn’t that he didn’t like the idea of The Project; he very much did. Fitz had been drawn to Jemma the moment she had walked in the first day of school. She was new not just to the school but to the country and she looked as scared as Fitz had felt when he had moved to the States all those years ago. She was quiet and polite, never wishing to make a fuss… until class started and her hand flew in the air twenty times a day. Fitz thought she was the smartest, sweetest, kindest, most beautiful girl he had ever come across. And it was for that reason that he never attempted to talk to her beyond the few apologies he muttered in her general direction after the multiple times Daisy had shoved him into her. So, talking about The Project just made him all that more nervous, his terrible inner monologue telling him there was no way Jemma Simmons could ever like him.

Fitz knew why his friend was pestering him, so much so that she had an entire plan devoted to it. Daisy, his best friend in the world, was tired of watching him spend his entire existence believing he was incapable of being loved, believing himself to be the worst and thinking he was out of his dream girl’s league. She just didn’t want him pining forever, wishing him to be happy and carefree, as carefree as Fitz could get that is. Plus, she was becoming increasingly frustrated at him ignoring her in math in favor of staring at Jemma Simmons and very much wanted him to get it over with and talk to her already. 

So when Daisy started Project Fitz-Simmons, he understood her reasoning and, if he was being honest, was equally interested in the project as he was annoyed by it. He secretly scanned through the pages when Daisy wasn’t looking and would lie in his bed at night thinking over possible introduction scenarios, all of which were jotted down in the yellow notebook. When he dreamed of these scenarios they always ended one of two ways: either he and Jemma ended up immediately hitting it off, falling in love, and growing old together; or she threw a glass of water in his face, stomped on his foot, and told him to bugger off and leave her alone forever. He could never understand where she conjured the water from. 

It was the third Thursday afternoon in October when the _ Final Plan _went into motion. Fitz was finishing hole punching his pile of study guides while Daisy, who had sped through her own pile, sat cross-legged on one of the desks in her father’s classroom, trying to wait the proper amount of time before pulling out the notebook.

It was common during times like these, the few hours after school before they went home they called “study time,” for Daisy to bring up The Project, seeing it as the perfect chance to mindlessly chat about the topic with her friend as he was held captive by whatever task Phil had given them to do that day. Even before The Project, Daisy and Fitz had spent most of their time after school acting either as Phil’s teacher aide, stapling papers or hole punching things, or drawing on the whiteboards as they talked about whatever came to mind rather than actually studying. There was still one of Fitz’s doodle monkeys in the corner of one of the boards, Phil adding different things to the sketch depending on what period of history he was teaching that day. Currently, Martin Monkey was sporting a colonial tricorn hat while the duo kept at their work.

Daisy picked at her nail polish while Fitz pushed down on the hole punch, her knee bouncing before she finally broke her silence, cutting off Fitz’s rant on the impossibility of time travel, a topic he had been discussing for a while, by blurting what she wanted to say. “Fitz, I love you more than anything, but I know your circling on time travel because you’re avoiding something.”

“I’m not avoiding an--”

“You had one of you water throwing dreams, didn’t you.”

“No… yes.”

“Well, let’s do something about it! I was thinking--”

“That’s new.”

After blowing a large handful of punch-out dots at her friend, Daisy continued. “I had an idea today about--”

“The Project,” Fitz finished in a sigh as he brushed the raindrops of paper off his shoulders. “Go on then.” 

Though his voice gave the impression that he was resigning himself to talking about Project Fitzsimmons, inside Fitz was desperate to discuss the topic. To spite his dream, he had once again spent the entirety of math trying to work up the courage to talk to Jemma after class only to feel as though his tongue had swelled up in his mouth the moment the bell rang. 

“Okay, so you know how we’re having our annual Halloween party at Hunter’s tomorrow night?” Daisy asked. 

Fitz nodded as he punched holes in another stack of paper, the motion of his response sending more bits of different colored paper cascading from his hair. “Yeah… What about it?”

“Well, I was talking to Bobbi and turns out she sits next to Jemma in biology and mentioned that her boyfriend was throwing a party. According to Bobbi, Jemma said that it sounded like fun or something and so Bobbi told her she was welcome to come.”

Fitz froze, his eyes widening as he took in Daisy’s words, scanning her beaming face for any sign of a lie. “Wait--so--uh--so--Jemma is going to Hunter’s tomorrow?”

“Yes! But, Fitz! That’s not even the best part!”

“Well, what is the best part?” Fitz choked, his hand flying up to run through his curls. A final paper dot fell to the desk and Fitz shot Daisy a look, one she returned with a snort of laughter.

“So--again this is going through Bobbi--Jemma apparently asked who all would be there. Which makes sense given she doesn’t really know any of us and I would be kind of freaked out about being invited to what is essentially more of a get-together than a party with a bunch of people I don’t know super we--sorry, I’m getting to my point. Anyway, she asked who was going and Bobbi listed all of our names and Jemma was nodding at all of them until Bobbi got to your name.”

“Whatwhat--uh--what did she say at my name?”

Daisy grinned like a cheshire cat. “She asked Bobbi if you were definitely going to be there, Bobbi said yes because of course, you are because tradition and shit, and then Jemma told her she would very much like to go.”

A swarm of jittery butterflies took flight in Fitz’s stomach as he tried to grasp what Daisy had said. His eyes focused on Martin's tricorn hat as his mouth fell open, his mind rushing through a thousand scenarios.

Finally, the wide grin slipping off her face slightly as concern took its place, Daisy snapped her fingers in front of her friend’s eyes as she called his name. Fitz jumped back into focus, his eyes meeting Daisy’s as a million nervous thoughts buzzed like bees in his brain.

“Fitz, what’s going through your mind?” Daisy asked, scooting to sit on the desk Fitz had been working on, her feet dangling off the side.

“What if it’s not what we think and she actually hates me.”

Daisy let out a bark of laughter, covering her mouth apologetically at the look Fitz shot her. “Okay, firstly, why would she want to go to a party after hearing someone she hates would be there? That’s irrational. And secondly, Fitz, when are you going to accept that you are actually really attractive. Don’t widen your eyes at me! It’s true! You have literally the prettiest eyes in the world, great facial structure, a nice physique, and you’re honestly the sweetest genius on the planet. And have I not been telling you for the past two and a half weeks that she stares at you as much as you stare at her?” At Fitz’s continued skepticism, Daisy rolled her eyes. “It’s true Fitz! It’s super freaking annoying how good at missing each other’s pining glances the both of you are.”

“She’s not pining after me, Dais,” Fitz muttered, gathering up both their stacks of finished study guides as he stood up from his work station. 

“You don’t know that!” Daisy called while Fitz placed the papers on Phil’s desk. “For all we know, she’s saying the same thing about you when you’re totally pining over her!”

Fitz grabbed his backpack, swinging it over his shoulder before picking up Daisy’s and handing it to her. “I am not pining.”

“Fitz,” Daisy said flatly, her eyes skeptical.

“So I’m pining a bit. Now, let’s drop the subject for today please.”

Daisy raised up her hands in defense, “Okay, fine. I will pin it, but I’m not dropping it. So, I’m giving you a ride tomorrow?”

“Don’t you always?”

“True. Oh, and remind me tomorrow that we have to pick up our contributions to the snack pile before the party.”

“What am I in charge of again?”

“Chips, Fitz.”

“I thought I had the soda.”

“I have the soda. You have the chips.”

And with that, they walked out of Phil’s classroom, Daisy saying goodbye to Martin as she went.

* * *

Halloween at Hunter’s had been a tradition since the ninth grade. It never actually happened on Halloween, being a “before the actual holiday” tradition, but it was always about the week before. They all looked forward to it; the movies, the inevitable talking over the movie, the ungodly amount of snacks they accumulated. It all screamed carefree fun without the overwhelming nature of large over-packed Halloween house parties. That particular Halloween at Hunter’s, however, Fitz was feeling all the jitters he would have felt if he had been going to one of those house parties.

“It’s okay, Fitz,” Daisy comforted as they sat outside Hunter’s in Daisy’s car, Wall-E, Fitz hugging a two-liter bottle of Coke and as he stared out the car window at the house’s warm glowing eyes. 

“What if I say something stupid?” Fitz asked, his eyes traveling nervously from the windows over to Daisy’s face. “What if she throws water in my face. There is definitely water cups in there. She has all the opportunity to--”

“Fitz! She’s not going to throw any water in your face. We should definitely talk about where that fear comes from though. It’ll be alright, okay. It just Halloween at Hunter’s and I’ll be there if you need me.”

Fitz nodded multiple times in quick succession as he took steadying breaths. Daisy reached behind the passenger seat to grab the grocery bag of chips before sitting back in the driver’s seat and smiling at her friend, who now had his eyes closed tightly.

“It’s going to be great, Fitz.”

Daisy swung open her door and hopped out of the car, Fitz following slowly behind her. With a few bright beeps, Daisy locked Wall-E and made her way up Hunter’s winding front path, grocery bags swinging. 

Daisy did her and Fitz’s signature knock, standing on her tip-toes to see through the door’s small front window. The door swung open with a flourish, revealing a grinning Hunter.

“Happy Halloween you two,” Hunter exclaimed, leaning in as Daisy wrapped him in a hug. Hunter relieved Daisy of the grocery bags before stepping aside to let his friends in. He slapped Fitz’s shoulder as he passed by and a bit of the tenseness Fitz had been harboring there faded with the friendly gesture. It was just another Halloween at Hunter’s.

They immediately made their way downstairs to Hunter’s basement, Daisy leading and Hunter making up the rear. As they rounded into the cozy basement room they were greeted by a chorus of welcome from the rest of their group. Fitz automatically scanned for Jemma, but it appeared she wasn’t there yet, causing his heart to sink slightly.

“Jemma’s on her way,” Bobbi said, catching Fitz’s eye and causing him to blush before quickly sitting down on the over-plush loveseat.

“I wasn’t--I was just looking at what movie we were watching,” Fitz lied, knowing full well if anyone would call his bullshit it would be Bobbi Morse. Instead, she just smiled at him before putting a handful of Skittles into her mouth. 

“Ugh! Seriously, Mack? _ Lawnmower Man _?” Daisy pouted, staring at the television with a mixture of exasperation and laughter.

Mack smiled widely and threw a skittle at Daisy. “Hey, leave me alone. It’s my turn to choose the movie and I didn’t complain when you put on _ Halloweentown _ last year _ . _”

“_ Halloweentown _is a quality classic,” Daisy shot back as she plopped down onto the loveseat next to Fitz, her hands flying and nearly hitting him in the face. Fitz pushed her hands down and she stuck out her tongue before turning her attention back to Mack The conversation continued on with Mack explaining why his choice of film was an acceptable one and as Bobbi cut in to refute him, Daisy became distracted by Fitz’s bouncing knee. Gently, she rested her hand to settle him and took a deep breath for him to copy. He did as such and Daisy rubbed his shoulder with a companionable nod before pushing herself up from her cushion to go get a drink. Just as Fitz felt himself begin to calm down, the doorbell rang from up above and his heart rate skyrocketed.

“That’ll be Jemma,” Hunter called as if Fitz’s mind hadn’t already sprung to that conclusion, and he vaulted over the couch to run up the steps, taking them two at a time. The sound of friendly greetings floated down the staircase and Fitz’s breath hitched when he detected Jemma’s light voice, the melody of it leaving him feeling the dizzying way he always felt when she talked.

A few moments later there was the sound of feet hitting the carpeted steps and Jemma appeared in the basement archway. Fitz straightened up in his seat at the sight of her, his greeting slightly delayed after everyone else's and his voice soft and shaky with nerves, earning him exchanged glances between Daisy and Bobbi. Jemma’s hazel gaze traveled over the room and her smile was laced with nervous introductions, her hand waving up shyly at her chest. 

“Hello. It’s nice to meet all of you properly. Thanks for letting me come to your Halloween get-together,” Jemma greeted sweetly. Her fingers nervously found a stray strand of hair and tucked it behind her ear as she nodded at everyone. When her eyes hit Fitz’s she blushed and he felt as though he might float off the couch. However, she quickly turned away, her attention finding the television, leaving Fitz’s heart to get caught in his throat. 

Hunter held out his hand to take her jacket and she gratefully handed it over as she started to speak once more to the group. “What movie is this?” she asked. 

“_ The Lawnmower Man _,” Mack answered.

Jemma raised her eyebrows. “I’ve never heard of that film before.

“That’s for the best,” Fitz joked, surprising himself with his speech. At Jemma’s chime of laughter, a smile found Fitz’s face and his eyes hit the floor to hide his joy. 

“Go on and sit, Jemma,” Bobbi said, pointing at the loveseat Fitz was sat on. At the smirk on Bobbi’s face, he suddenly realized that she must be in cahoots with Daisy and he shot the pair an exasperated look, their reply a pair gleeful grins and waggling eyebrows. _ They’d make excellent spies, _Fitz thought to himself before his mind went blank, Jemma coming to sit down next to him. Her arm brushed against his as she fell back into the striped cushions and goosebumps appeared across his skin, hidden by the warm sleeves of his cardigan. 

“Sorry,” he mumbled shyly, scooting over to give her more room. He felt the familiar tongue-swelling sensation and swallowed hard in an attempt to rid himself of it. 

The corners of her mouth ticked up as a timid blush appearing on her cheeks, “That’s alright. So, I’m guessing Mack picked the movie then?”

“Uh--yeah. Believe me, if it were my time to pick we’d be watching something much better than this.”

“What would be your pick?” she asked, her focus falling completely on him and her eyes roaming his features.

“Well, it’d be something we’ve all seen a million times since we’re going to talk over it anyway. And something everyone here likes. I always go for something like _ Harry Potter _ when it’s my turn to pick the movie. Even though the books are superior it’s hard to deny a good _ Harry Potter _marathon.”

“I love _ Harry Potter _ ,” Jemma gushed, her hand flying up to clutch his shoulder as she turned more fully to talk to him. “And I agree the books are much better, but they do have the time to explore things more fully. However, I always see _ Harry Potter _as more of a Christmas thing.”

Fitz scoffed and rolled his eyes. “Yes, they do tend to be good Christmas movies. But I would argue that the series lends itself to being less of a holiday-specific movie and more towards a “marathon” movie.”

Jemma scrunched her nose and a look fell across her face that Fitz often saw her make in math. The look caused his heart to speed up once more, faster than it had already been going that is as he realized she was actually pondering what he was saying, adding her thoughts to his. “So what is your definition of a marathon movie?” she asked.

“Marathon movies don’t need a specific time, they just need a lot of it. And you have to be in the mood for them.”

“Then why play _ Harry Potter _at a party. There simply isn’t enough time--”

“To finish them. Yes, that’s true. But they also tend to be movies that everyone has seen, meaning at some point they also fall into the category of--”

“Background movies!” 

Fitz turned to face Jemma as well and she tucked her legs under her to give him more room. “Exactly!”

As the night progressed, Fitz and Jemma continued to talk. Often their ideas would overlap and they would nod at one another excitedly. It was as if they had been friends forever, or perhaps all the conversations Fitz had been dying to have with her were finally able to spill out. She was just as wonderful as he knew she would be, just as smart and kind. They had a lot in common and what they didn’t they could debate about without any animosity pushing in. It was like they were meant to talk to one another like their friendship was inevitable.

As time dwindled down to the territory of “very late,” everyone was starting to get ready to head home, yawning and stretching or rubbing their eyes. Everyone except for Fitz and Jemma, who continued to talk and laugh with one another like they’d been doing for hours. Neither of them was ready for the night to end. That was why when Daisy stood up, stretching out her back and swiping the back of her hands over her tired eyes, Fitz panicked.

“Are you going?” he rushed, his eyes widening despite his desire to play it cool in front of Jemma.

Daisy gave him a tired frown, her mascara stained eyes understanding. “Yeah. It’s late and my parents want me home by eleven-thirty.”

“Oh.”

“Speaking of which, Fitz. I don’t think I’ll be able to drive you home and still make it in time. I’m super sorry, I--”

“I can give you a ride,” Jemma offered suddenly, her face shooting hopefully over to Fitz.

The response he had been about to give Daisy, the one about him only living, at most, about five minutes away from her, died in his throat as he realized his friend’s secret genius. He really needed to bring the whole spy thing up to her. 

“Uh, yeah--yeah that would be great! Thank you.”

“Great! Let me just text my mum and tell her so that she knows I’m going to be a bit late.

Jemma sprang up from the couch and pulled out her phone, going through the archway and turning the corner to sit on the stairs. Daisy gave Fitz her signature mischievous grin and rubbed her hand over his curls, messing them up teasingly. 

A few minutes later, after having helped Hunter clean up and said their goodbyes, Fitz opened the passenger door of Jemma’s car and sat inside, not fully believing that he was there. Jemma followed right behind him and smiled at him brightly in the glow of the car’s automatic door lights. 

“So, tell me where to go!”

Once Fitz had given her the directions to his house, he sat back into his seat with a quiet sigh. The moment the overhead lights faded and they were on the road, the small space suddenly became very intimate, the conversation following suit. 

“So, how long have you lived here?” Jemma asked, her eyes flicking to his face and back to the road.

“Since I was twelve. My mum needed a change and she got a job offer, so here we are.” Fitz’s voice was as confident as he could make it as he deftly tried to move around the life potholes that brought him and his mum to the States.

“Do you miss Scotland?” Jemma asked. The hollows of her cheeks sank in the shadows and her eyes dazzled in the headlights of passing cars. Fitz had to pull his attention away from her to avoid getting distracted and answer the question.

“Yeah. Sometimes a lot. Sometimes a little. What about you? Do you miss home?”

She smiled at him, taking in his face as they reached a quick stop sign. “Sometimes a lot. Sometimes a little.”

Fitz let out a little chuckle before he began rubbing his palm with his thumb. “I remember my first day of school after I moved. Was bloody terrified. All I wanted to do was go home, really home. I was shy, a bit of a loner. I didn’t talk to anyone. ”

“You didn’t talk to anyone?” Jemma asked softly, her face still turned to the road but a crease forming between her brows.

“Nope. Took me months before I even tried to talk to anyone and even once I did the only person I talked to for a long time was Daisy.”

Jemma nodded and her eyes filled with empathy. “My first day of school all I could think about was home. Got to my new house and just fell onto my bed wishing for it. Felt miserable the first few days.”

“I could tell.” 

“You could?” Jemma asked, turning to him after placing the car in park. They had made it to his house but Fitz couldn’t bring himself to get out, not now that the conversation had turned the way it had.

“The look on your face, it reminded me how I felt when I had first moved. And those first few days you kept answering questions and things but when you turned to your work you looked kind of sad, like the questions were your distraction.”

“You… you looked at me?” Her voice was shy and her eyes were taking in his face as much as they could in the dark.

Fitz’s eyes widened as he realized what he had just admitted to. “Uh--yeah. I just knew what you were going through. Really I wanted to talk to you but…” He trailed off, not knowing where he was going. Jemma just looked at him patiently, her shoulder against the seat as she faced him completely.

“But what, Fitz?”

“But I couldn’t think of anything clever enough to say to impress you.”

The softest smile Fitz had ever seen broke across Jemma’s face as her eyes fluttered down to her hands. “I wish you had talked to me. Or I wish I had had enough confidence to talk to you. But really you didn’t need to say anything. I overheard you talking to Daisy in class and all your responses to questions. I always thought you were so funny and so smart… so handsome.”

Wherever Fitz had thought she had been going, it was nothing compared to what she had said. His heart felt like it was going to burst out of his chest and that he might lose it with happiness.

“Well we’re talking now,” Fitz replied, his voice far more confident than he felt.

“That we are. So, what else do you want to talk about?”

Suddenly, a clip from the back of the yellow notebook flashed behind Fitz’s eyes and he tried to take the piece of advice that had been scrawled in Daisy’s handwriting, _ you got this Fitz. Just be brave _. He took a deep breath, summoned all his courage and answered Jemma’s question.

“Us.”

Another smile broke on Jemma’s face and she bit her lip. Quickly, she cast her glance at his lips before leaning forward, closing the gap between them. Whatever they were heading towards, it definitely deserved a conversation, but then wasn’t the time for that. Fitz followed her lead, playing his part in shortening the distance. He placed his thumb under her chin as her eyes fluttered closed and the two met softly by the lips. The kiss was short and sweet and romantic, the two pulling softly apart and staring into one another’s street lamp lit eyes. Their foreheads touched softly, their faces sporting matching grins.

“So, would you be up for dinner tomorrow night?” Fitz asked, leaning only as far away from her as was necessary to look at her.

“Sounds wonderful.”

“Great. Then--uh--it’s a date. Goodnight, Jemma,” Fitz whispered against her lips.

“Goodnight, Fitz.”

Before he exited the car, Jemma pulled him back to kiss him once more and he nearly lost his balance as he got out of the vehicle, finding his legs had turned to jelly.

* * *

The next morning, after responding to Jemma’s texts, the two having set up the specifics of their date, Fitz walked over to Daisy’s, knocking on the door with their signature knock. Daisy answered, inviting him in for a plate of her father’s french toast.

“So, how’d it go?” Daisy asked, sitting next to Fitz at the kitchen counter.

A grin crept up onto Fitz’s face, followed by a crimson blush. “It went well.”

“Don’t ‘it went well’ me. Tell me what happened!”

“Jemma and I kissed. And we’re having dinner tonight,” he replied, his eyes shy and his voice ecstatic. 

Daisy squealed as she swung her knees under her in excitement. As Daisy shook her friend and shrieked, Phil padded into the kitchen.

“What’s going on?” he asked, his brows knit in concern.

Daisy beamed, shoving Fitz once more. 

“Project Fitz-Simmons is a success!”


End file.
